Airborne, free-floating untethered hovering balloons, sometimes also referred to as Mylar balloons, initially were primarily considered as toys for children. However, they also became of interest to and as amusements for hobbyists. These balloons are made to float or hover in mid-air not tethered by strings or the like, by attaching ballast to the balloon's envelope, see my U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,307,537 and 4,547,167, for example. In general, the user selectively attaches or removes weight-balancing tabs or ballast tabs until the weight of the balloon envelope and the ballast equals the lift of the helium gas contained in the balloon envelope causing the balloon to achieve “neutral buoyancy” so that it hovers in mid-air at a desired height.
Over the years a relatively small number of balloon sizes and shapes became standard. But the increased popularity as a child's toy and as a hobbyist activity has led to the desire for and production of a greater number of different and intricate balloon shapes and sizes. Examples may be, a multiple-pointed star shaped decorated balloon or a replica of a human or an animal which the user may want to make hover at different altitudes and attitudes from time to time. But this has led to a more difficult and somewhat more complicated and arduous scheme or procedure for achieving and maintaining neutral buoyancy and desirable attitude for the balloon. This apparently has adversely affected growth in popularity of the hovering balloon by both children and hobbyist. To offset this I have found that the weight balancing or ballast system must address the many different shapes and sizes of these balloons, which are currently available and those which may evolve in the future. Some shapes require significantly more ballast than others to hover at the desired height or altitude because of their inherent weight and some lose their altitude and/or attitude and list, either initially or if they lose helium over time.
In addition, because of the shapes some balloon can only accommodate long narrow shaped ballast while others might require wider shorter shaped ballast to maintain attitude in flight.
Therefore, the correct size, weight and location of the ballast for each balloon may be significantly different.
In addition, since the ballast is adhesively backed for releasable attachment, because of the wide variety of shapes each balloon may have a different smooth surface available for attaching the ballast. This may affect the size or shape of the ballast that can be attached to the balloon envelope, e.g. a rectangular shape rather than square or circular one may be preferred or necessary.
Furthermore, advances in balloon manufacturing technology has led to the development of a multitude of balloons of different sizes and shapes, many decorated with unique artwork. Also, many present day hovering toy balloons are significantly larger than in the past and so may require heavier and/or larger ballast weight. In addition, some configured balloons may require precisely located weight tabs to retain their proper orientation or attitude and hovering level.
Further, weight tabs or ballast tabs made out of opaque material attached to a balloon may detract from the decorative effect of the artwork on uniquely decorated balloons.
With hovering balloons becoming of greater interest to hobbyists and becoming more complex as designs of shapes and configurations and decorations has become more sophisticated and varied, the art has become more complicated. Therefore, the main object of the instant invention is to provide improvements in the field of hovering balloons, to overcome the problems introduced by the advent of the complexities mentioned above and still retain its basic operation and enjoyment.